Block Art Online
by AzureGlacier
Summary: When a 17 year-old introvert boy gets caught into an online clan war that spread across 10 different games, he has to fight to end the long brooding war. But his personal social life is at risk when rioting breaks loose. Can he break the 4th wall and finish the clan war or will he die trying?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Drip-drip-drip. The dripping water bombed my head which was already covered with sweat. Clutching on today's find, I head out of the cave and was bathed by the warm sunlight. Today's luck was just like yesterday, a couple chunks of coal and some cobblestones. If this goes on, I'm going to end up with no money. The long walk back to the village was often serene with the animals all around. However, a forward base belonging to the Ordo Justitiae (Justice Order) was attacked by an unknown group. There were no survivors. All munitions and supplies in the base now belong to the attackers. The Order did not send a recon party to scout the remains on the place. No one knew the attackers but the Order's Paladins claim that Night Stalkers, a group whose made purpose is to train airborne soldiers, was the attacker. Rivalry between these two groups started when both groups were private and small. It started with an argument between a member of the Order and another from the Stalkers. The other members took side and ignited a short bloody war as members clashed swords on the battlefield. The Order had Paladins whose main strengths were their enchanted armor and buff enchantment potions. These made them a formidable opponent as they can take several blows and can recover any injuries. The Stalkers also had their own super soldiers called Specters. These soldiers were more of rogue-like than battlefield men-at-arms. Specters had light armor dyed black and a mask. Equipped with a short blade, these men utilize the darkness as their own and attack when they are sure of the kill. After the kill, they disappear into the darkness, never to be found again. The war ended when the leaders called a cease-fire agreement due to the casualties on both sides. The leaders stated that the two fractions will end the Great War and ushered a era of peace. But now the tinderbox of war was ignited and who knows how long it'll burn.

The village of Caux was quiet and quaint. A peaceful village near Mount Trivk, platoons of soldiers, during the Great War, would pass the village and either stay for a short while or trade with the people. The Era of Peace made the village into a small village, obscured to the outside world and isolated from the conflicts of man. As I approached the entrance to the village, two soldiers stopped me.

"Identifications, sir." They asked me. I was looking confused at first. When I first left there were no guards. There were no need for guards since our village was quiet. The guards were looking impatient as I kept on pondering my thoughts. Rather than making the guard mad, I quickly gathered my clustered thoughts and answered him.

"Alexei Tredyakovsky. I live here. Alone."

The guard turned to his friend and asked for the roster of the people of Caux. Mumbling names from the list whose surname start with a T, he finally said my surname.

"...Toropov...Travkin...Tredya-kov-sky...Tredyakov sky. 23 years old. Miner. Lives in the Wind District. Am I correct?"

When did we get guards and when the hell did someone get a roster of all the people in Caux plus their house location, too, I thought. Before I enraged the guard, I gave a small smile and nodded. He opened the gate and allowed me in. He thanked me for the co-operation and when back with to his business. The number of soldiers going around the village was incredible. Every corner you turn, there were soldiers everywhere. All of which bear the symbol of the Order. A blade facing downward with a thunderbolt twisting around the blade. I smiled at the sight of the symbol. As I head down the street to my house, I overheard a group of guards talking.

"Man, the weather is getting freaky lately. 7th Platoon that left before us said that a storm is brewing up. A rrreeeaaalll nasty one too."

"Why are we even stationed out here anyway? No one is going to attack this desolated piece of crap."

The sound of laughter was soon null by the screeching of the wind. Thunder crackled and flashed above the dark cloudy sky. Hell, I thought, I guess I'll go to bed early today. Going up the steps to my house, I took out my key, fumbled with it, and unlocked the door. The little shabby home wasn't much. I was lucky to at least afford a home. I got the money from taking on logging and mining jobs but most of the money came through selling the ores and gems I find in my mining trips. The house itself was small. The bedroom, living room, dining room, and the kitchen itself were all in one room in this house. It was hardly called a home and yet it caused me my entire fortune. The house was furnished with 4 bookshelves, a bed, a furnace and stove, a table and 2 chairs, a chest, and a small bed. Unlocking the chest and opening it, the wooden container contains 8 iron ingots, a dozen wooden sticks, and a small unknown purple crystal I found 1 week ago. The coal and cobblestones I had mined earlier today was added to the collection. The wooden floor creaked as I moved towards the bed. Throwing the velvet covers aside, I sat on the bed and put down my dulled iron pickaxe besides the bed. The rain was battering the roof and windows of the shabby little home. One hell of a storm, I thought. With that thought, I sulked into the bed and fell fast into sleep.

7th Platoon was created about 3 month back. Most of the troops in the platoon were rooks who never saw battle. They were trained in basic combat techniques and equipped with leather and chainmail armor. Most platoons were small, no more than 15 men. And any platoon with numbers more than 3 were trained after the war. New platoons were usually given the job as border patrol and reconnaissance team.

7th Platoon was given the task to be station at Border Base Romeo which was at the base of Mt. Trivk. Captain Arnfried was the platoon leader. He first served in the 4th Shock Army during the end of the Great War. The 4th Shock Army was commemorated for their actions during the Battle of Ionjir when the Grand Army was being forced back. The 4th Shock Army came behind enemy lines and flanked the enemy in the back. However, the 4th Shock Army was ill-equipped since they were accustomed to using guerrilla warfare tactics or in other words hit-and-run's. With that, the 4th Shock Army took a massive blow to their army size. From 1,000 men to 173 survivors, the enemy's casualties was between 100-150. But this act of heroism gave the Grand Army precious seconds to reorganize their formation and battle tactics. When the 4th Shock Army pulled out, the enemy was in complete disarray and panic as the Grand Army pulled a massive push with the remaining 3,400 men. The enemy pulled a last-minute defense with their remaining archers but the Grand Army was being led by 12 Paladins whose power was incomparable. As the Paladins broke the line, the panicking enemies fought to the death while some routed and tried to escape the madness. As the sun came up at the end of the battle, the Grand Army suffered massive casualties along with the 4th Shock Army with a mind-blowing death toll of 7,427 men and women. One of the survivors of the 4th Shock Army was Private Arnfried Hitzig of Lightning Team...

"Captain! We got word that 11th Platoon in the village got hit with a massive storm!"

The captain looked up from his map. The village of Caux was approximately 2.4 kilometers back. When he turned his head, he saw a massive storm cloud that darkened the entire area, one kilometer back. He folded up the map, opened his rucksack, and stuck it. Inside the backpack was also 2 loaves of bread and a cooked pork chop that was all made by his wife. He and his wife lived inside the great city of Lumen. The brightest city in the fraction, it was also the most safe as it was behind 3 meter concrete thick walls and protected by more than 5,000 soldiers. His house was quite large although he didn't spend a single dime. The house was a gift from a friend who was thankful for bringing his sister back home alive during the Great War. The sister also served in the 4th Shock Army but during the battle, she was injured by an arrow and escaped death thanks to Arnfried. Arnfried carried her across the battlefield, dodging stray shot arrows, and fallen comrades, to the triage tent. He then returned to the battlefield.

"Alright! Listen up because I won't repeat myself! 11th Platoon that was stationed in Caux reported a massive storm. And due to the wind, there's a high chance of it heading this way. I don't want to be out here when that storm hits us. The outpost is about 1 kilometer ahead of us. We're going to double-time it to get there before the storm arrives. There will be a short 2 minute break when we're 500 meters out but nothing else. Let's go! Hoorah?"

"HOORAH!" The 13 strong-willed men voiced out their war cry. The sound of clinking chainmail and clanking iron swords was the noise the men made as they moved on. With their determined might, they head out for the outpost.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

7 MINUTES BEFORE STORM

"We're in position. Give us the go sign and we'll finish them in less than 5 minutes."

The village of Caux was a key foothold to the Stalkers. It opened up hundreds of trade routes and its ore-filled mountains. Added to that it could also serve as a excellent forward operating base since due to its high mountains, giving the defenders a height advantage. However, taking the village will not be an easy task. The village becomes a ant hill during wartimes. Soldiers swarm the village center and streets. Groups goes out and new ones comes in to replace them. To take over such immense amount of soldiers would require a decent size army. But here the Directors only sent a team of Specters. Only 7 of them. And hundreds of hostile soldiers.

"Sir? Are we seriously going down there? 7 of us and shit ton of them?"

The leader of the group was a stern but powerful man. Highly decorated at such a young age, he was awarded with Lapis Heart after being wounded in the second day of the Great War. He was dragged from the battlefield to the triage tent before being sent to a hospital for further treatment. After that, he was never seen on the battlefield again. Not because he gave up fighting but rather after he was hospitalized, he was conscripted to join the Specters as one of the founding members. A brilliant tactician and commander, he now serves on the field with the Specter Division 2. Specter Division 2 has the elite and also the rookies. But why have elites and rookies on the same team? This idea was thought up by Specter Division 2 Leader himself. After being asked why mix the ranks, he casually said, "In my book, experience outranks everything."

"WE have the advantage, rookie. The storm is about to arrive. The rain and thunder will cover any sound we might accidently make. "

Black mist suddenly appeared next to the Team Leader. The swirling blackness soon solidify into a person. A black-clad, masked Specter stood tall next to the Team Leader. The mask depicted an image of distorted pain and agony. The Specter bowed and put their arm across the chest and said with a feminine voice :

"Sir. The team is in position. We're ready to begin the raid."

And with a wave of a hand from the Team Leader, the female Specter disappeared, leaving a small black mist. Unclipping the mask from the hook on his armor, he flipped it to look at the mask. The mask had an image of a skull. Just the face of the skull and there was a cut in the middle of the skull. The paint on the mask was worn and scratched due to years of missions. Exhaling a deep breath, the Team Leader flipped the mask to its backside and attached it to his face. He adjusted the mask until he heard the familiar click sound of the mask locking to the hood.

"Alright rookie. Time for your first action. And time to make the first kill of the war."

The hazelnut colored Specter had his mask already on. His mask was the same across all rookie. It was a white mask with two eye slits for the wearer's eyes. Emotionless and featureless, new recruits have to earn their own mask through their own actions. Every veteran Specter each has different unique masks. No Specter is like the other. The recruit jumped down the mountain until he became a silhouette in the darkness. With that, the Team Leader stood at the edge of a cliff on a mountain. Drawing his sword, he slid his hand across the sharp knife's blade. The blade reflected the image of himself. A masked assassin, drawn in a penumbra cloak, equipped with a deadly blade. Experienced and trained, he was ready once more. Before he jumped off the edge, he whispered:

"Time for the name Sergio Tacchini to be feared once more."

A human scream distorted with pain rattled into my brain. Who the hell is screaming in the dead middle of the night, I thought. Taking a deep breath, I shoved the covers aside and walked across the icy wooden flooring, toward the kitchen window. The window was barely transparent since the storm splashed droplets of water onto the window panes. I should really clean these wind-

There was a body outside.

A soldier's body.

"Shit," I said to myself, "what the hell is going on.."

I quickly spun around and headed for the front door. Grasping the doorknob, I felt a sudden chill down my spine. A rasp of a blade sliding out of its scabbard whispered to my ear. I slowly turned the knob to the right as I heard the sound of footsteps. The squeaking of the floor slowly got louder and closer until it was right next to me. Not taking any changes, I slammed into the door, opening it and sending me flying out to the freezing, wet gravel street head first. A dark boot came forth from the darkness inside the door. Then a body and attached to it, arms. All dressed in black. From the toe and up the chest. All black.

"WHO ARE YOU!" I screamed from the top of my lungs, "SOMEBODY HELP -!" Before I could finished my plead for help, a black leather glove covered my mouth. My eyes tried to look at the face of the man who was doing this. My arms flailed around helplessly as I try to defend myself but to no avail. With no energy left in me, my entire body went limp. The arms that once were attacking me felt comforting. The hands tilted my head toward my right side. A voice whispered in the air:

"Sssshhhhhhh...Time to go to sleep."

Before my sight went dim, I saw the face of the assailant. But it wasn't even close to a face. It was a mask. It was a mask of a ghost.

"A...spec...ter...?" I mumbled weakly. Then everything went dark.

"CAPTAIN! We got a problem!"

7th Platoon was half way to the outpost. Light reconnaissance work, the outpost needed some backup since the base itself has barely any defense mechanism. All it had was two stationary cannons and its stone wall. Besides that, it had a garrison of only 27 men. One cannon took three to four people to operate it efficiently. If an invasion occurred, this base would also be under attacked and with 27 people, it will need to use everything in its arsenal to defend the fort. With eight people operating the cannons, 19 people are left defending the walls. And its unheard of when 19 people successfully defended a fort that hasn't seen any repairs since the last war.

49th Engineers was already at the outpost. It consisted of 17 men which are mostly all engineers. Trained most in building and repairs, they were equipped for construction and not for combat. Nevertheless, they can still fight. Basics were taught to all recruits. Block and counter, block and counter. They were more of a defensive unit rather than offensive but they are defending a fort and that is what they specialize in anyway.

"What's the problem, private? And don't tell me that the rooks are tired again." Captain Arnfried said nonchalantly.

"No sir. It's not that. But reports are being said that casualties are popping up out of the blue. And I confirmed it with the station list that all the casualties are all from soldiers stationed in Caux."

The Captain stopped suddenly in his tracks. All the other soldier moved up for a couple of steps before stopping in their own steps. Making a hand motion in the air, a gray, square menu digitalized in the air. Selecting the contacts tab, he scroll down the list before halting at a name. DEREK NIGHTWOOD. He tapped on the name and a sub category appeared on the side, CALL, MESSAGE, EDIT, and DELETE. The message tab was tapped and a message box appeared.

"Message start."

With that, the message box started flashing lightly.

New problem arose. Will be late for the rendezvous. Arnfried."

The square message box was filled with words as Arnfried said them. After reviewing the message is complete, he tapped the lower square button with the word SEND. And with another swipe of his hand, the square menu disappeared. The Captain then turned around and firmly grabbed his sword which was still in its scabbard, hanging from the right side of his belt.

"7TH PLATOON! CAUX IS UNDER ATTACK AND WE ARE THE CLOSEST UNIT AVAILABLE! AND WE ARE GOING TO HELP THEM WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT! HOORAH?!"

"HOORAH, SIR!"

The group of soldiers made an u-turn and followed the dirt road towards the village. A dark glooming cloud darkened the entire village area and heavy thunderstorm made it look like hell mountain.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"JESUS!"

Taking off my AmuSphere, I got up and looked around my bedroom. From the ceilings to the floor, gray was everywhere. All for the exception of my AmuSphere which was grey but had a hint purple. Purple was a good color but it didn't suite my room. If I could, I would've add some purple to my room but I had this room since I was 9 years old. A closet was built into the wall, providing more space for the room itself. A brown wooden table rests at the opposite of the door, in front of the window. On it a computer monitor stood. The computer had a 3 terahertz, octo core processor and a 2 petabyte hard drive. However, it was seldom used since the introduction of the NerveGear changed gaming forever. If you don't know what a NerveGear is, I suppose you either have a life, or don't. A NerveGear is a gaming console in which the console itself is a head ware. The head wear was built to read the brain's electrical pulses and nerves. Basically, it fully immerse one's consciousness in a virtual reality. So in-game, you could feel, hear, touch, smell, and taste everything. Even pain was included. However, if the pain in-game was as realistic as reality, it could still harm us. The pain would be real and it would leave a mark in reality. Pain threshold was added into the servers and could be accessed but only game-masters or admins with level 10 clearance had access to the master console. This was the first generation of FullDive

An incident occurred where the NerveGear became a killing device. Sword Art Online was the first game introduced to the NerveGear. However, within the launch day of the game, players of the VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Role Player Game) was trapped in the confines of the headset. Those how tried to save the victims by taking off their NerveGear ended up killing them due to the microwaves which was generated by the head ware. The microwaves fried the brains of the victim. No one knew how to get them out but 2 years after the incident, the players of SAO awoke from their long slumber. A player with the name Kirito saved everyone by defeating the final boss of the game. The NerveGear was seen as a horrid device by the public since the SAO Incident but a new company has developed a newer and better predecessor to the NerveGear. The AmuSphere was born. A smaller, lighter version of the NerveGear which doesn't emit harmful microwaves, it has the same functions of the NerveGear but with better safety features such as immediate disconnection when the AmuSphere is taken off. The NerveGear would affect your brain if someone took off your NerveGear without proper disconnection.

"What happened...? Who was that...?"

Questions and thoughts spun around in my head as I tried to piece the equation together. But without better evidence, it just doesn't seem to match. Still clutching onto my AmuSphere, I laid the silver AmuSphere down on the grey, modern night table. The night table had a glass top which made the table itself see-through from the top. I then doubled tapped the night table in quick succession and then slid my finger across the top. Blue holographic projections appeared suddenly out of vast nowhere, surrounding myself but the holographs were unreadable since they were blurred out. A login box was in front of me.

"User: Alexei. Password: Merde."

The login box disappeared with the correct identifications. The blue holographs which surrounded me were now all readable. Sighing deeply, I spread my arms wide and then clasping my hands together in a quick movement. The blue projects disappeared and were now all contained in my hand.

"Close all projects currently in my hand."

Opening my hands again, the projects all disappeared and now nothing remained in front of me. I involuntarily looked up and above the bedroom door. Oh yeah, I said to myself, I threw that out a week ago. Laying on backs once more, I let my arms loose as it laid openly next to my body.

"ComInt, what time is it currently?" I said in a very weak, tired voice.

A voice rang out in the entire room:

"Time is currently: 5:17 PM. Dinner is in 1 hour and 13 minutes."

Perfect time, I said, enough time to investigate in this little matter. With that, I grabbed the AmuSphere and equipped it on my head. The AmuSphere was voice-activated to start the system itself, one only needs to say:

"«System Start»!"

The AmuSphere's internal screen came to life with its menu screen. The menu screen consisted of 4 choices; Games, Downloadable, Options, and Internal Memory, all voice-activated.

"«Games» «Minecraft»"

The menu changed into a grey one with nothing onscreen. Then a word appeared in the middle of the grey background:

"[ ]"

But before going into games, I decided to set an alarm before dinner. If I missed one more dinner, I'd probably be dead the next day. For the past 4 days, I been eating barely anything. I been drinking bottled water for the past days and going to the bathrooms once a day.

"ComInt, Set alarm for 6:15 PM. Sharp."

"Alarm set for 6:15 PM."

Getting into a comfortable position, I checked if the power cord was plugged into the AmuSphere. If it did get unplugged, the AmuSphere had an internal battery system. The battery should last for about 30 minutes to an hour. Putting aside that thought, I looked up into the ceiling. A poster of myself in-game with several friends in the background. I'm doing my best guys, I thought. This is not the time for that, I continued, I have to find out what the heck is going on. I conclude my thoughts and whispered:

"«Link Start»!"

And the world went black.

Suddenly, a bright flash of lights of all color engulfed me...

...And I was back in my house.

Opening my inventory thru the menu screen, I found out that I had nothing in it. Shifting towards the chest, I tossed the lid of it straight open. The valuables were still inside. Breathing a sigh of relief, I put every single item into my inventory. I started my way towards the door until I realized something. What if that guy was still lurking around, waiting? The crafting table next to entrance was any player's best friend. When interacted, it opened up a 3 by 3 crafting slot which enabled players to use items that they have to, as the item itself is, craft new items. The more crafting you do, the better your crafting skills be. And the higher your skills, the better quality of the item crafted. AND the better quality of the item, the stronger the items is. Higher damage and longer durability can mean life or death in a battle.

Tapping the crafting table, it popped up a small square window asking me if I wanted to open the crafting grid. Also the window had my crafting skill level which was 507. 1000 was the highest anyone can go. 400 to 700 was the average level that any player who had played for a year and a half. After tapping CONFIRM, the grid appeared including my inventory. I tapped the iron ingots and wooden sticks and positioned them on the crafting grid. 2 iron ingots and a wooden stick rests on the crafting window. The aligned items on the crafting should result in an iron sword. The button that had the word CRAFT was blinking. Lost in thought, I stood there, staring at the button. My arm moved forward and my finger stretched out for the button. Tap. A confirm sound was heard. Ding. A new window popped up:

"You have crafted Iron Sword. Standard Quality. The item was stored into your personal inventory."

I opened the inventory and selected the iron sword. Double tapping the weapon, it automatically equipped itself. A white light appeared on my back in a shape of a sword. The white light then exploded, revealing an iron sword in its scabbard, slung on my back. Moving away from the crafting table, I reached for the hilt of the newly made sword. It fitted my hand perfectly, and it had a nice grip. I slowly slid the sword of its scabbard until the entire blade itself was out. It was quite heavy and not light as I imagined it would be. I gave it a few swings and my stamina was almost exhausted.

"BOOM!"

I suddenly turned my head towards the source of the explosion. Gripping my sword tightly, I leveled the sword to my hip. Then pushed the door, slowly, opened and looked outside...

"Holy shit...what the fuck happened...?"

The men of 7th Platoon arrived to the outskirts of the village. Black smoke rose from the village as intense red color was blazing in the wooden homes. Explosion-made craters dot the landscape left and right. The livestock were slaughtered and their carcass were left on the fields. Equipment of soldiers were scattered everywhere. The soldiers themselves would've respawned back at Lumen's barracks.

"Corporal Davis, collect the fallen equipment. Try to not leave any behind."

The corporal moved with haste after hearing his commanding officer's orders. The equipment were added to the group inventory as they proceeded into the village. The smell of burning wood engulfed the entire village.

"Group, split up into pairs. Find and secure any survivors. If you find one, meet back here at the village park. And stay here. I want everyone back here by 5:50 PM. That's 20 minutes. Alright, move out. And don't forget to report if anything happens."

The 12 soldiers, not including Team Leader, split up into 6 groups and headed off into different directions. Arnfried stayed back and set up a temporary base camp. If they were planning to rescue survivors, they should have at least a place to stay if they needed to have a prolonged stay. A place to plan and coordinate groups. And a place to communicate with headquarters. Although in-game messaging can be used, the game implemented a system where messaging can only be received if the person waiting for the message was within a 1 km radius range. Otherwise, an item needed to be set up for long range communication. The item was called a Long-Range Transmitter.

The Team Leader spent 16 minutes trying to set up the Transmitter, hoping to get up-communications with the war council but someone was calling him. Sergeant Ryuden was trying to contact him. Arnfried tapped the ANSWER button and before he could asked, he was greeted with:

"Captain! We got a survivor...but we also got multiple unknown contacts! Requesting backup, over!"

The Captain was taken by surprised, he wasn't expecting company but he did prepare if such things were to happened. But the Captain prepared in case they saw enemy movement near the village. Not inside the village, either patrolling or hunting any survivors. He quickly barked an order back to the private:

"Private! Stay put! Secure the survivor and do not try to attack the contacts! Defend if needed. The rest of the platoon are headed your way. Do you copy?!"

"Yes, captain, sir! Donnell! Get that guy over here!-"

The call ended with the abrupt message. The Captain reacted quickly. Selecting the rest of the platoon, not including Sergeant Ryuden and Private Donnell, the call was answered almost immediately. Not to waste any time, Arnfried made the order sharp and quick:

"Ryudel and Donnell are in trouble. Double time it to them immediately! Move it, team, MOVE!"

The platoon answered back with mixed responses:

"Team 3, copy." "Rog. Moving." "Wilco!" "6, 7. Copy." "Yes, Captain, sir!"

"Hey KID! Get your ass over here!"

I turned around to see 2 soldiers, standing there, the source of their sound. But their uniforms distinguished themselves from the common soldiers. Their iron armor was worn and battle scars marked the metal. But only one of the soldiers had the worn out armor. The other one had a shining armor. It looked clean and shiny. Signaling that the soldier was a new recruit that had never seen a batt-

"Don't just stand there! Move!"

I drew my sword up and faced the incoming foes.

"Oh for fuck sake...Donnell, I think this will be your first battle. C'mon, the kid wants to fight. Let's go."

The soldiers came up to my side, drawing up their weapons. The worn out soldier took out an iron broadsword while the rookie took out a halberd. The foes jumped up and landed in front of them, just 5 meters away. With the blazing fire behind them, they look like death himself. 5 opponent stood in front of us. All of each took out their weapons which happened to be all bronze swords. Their armor were worn out bronze. And they look like they seen their share of battles. The opponent in the middle took a step forward and equipped his shield. A long heavy shield that was meant to take blows that would be either devastating for a small shield or kill a person in one shot. He raised his sword and pointed at us and said:

"By the order of the Night Stalkers, surrender or face death by fire."

The soldiers put up their weapons and braced themselves into a warrior stance. Then battle-seen soldier to my right yelled out:

"We won't surrender to you murderers! We rather go down fighting than be cut down like sheeps!"

The enemy leader lowered his sword and put himself into a combat stance and replied:

"So be it. Immortals! Attack-!"

But before the enemy team leader could finish his attacking order to his men, they were interrupted with a bellowing voice. An old and yet firm voice rang out in the entire village:

"Under the light of the Justice, you are to stand down or face trial!"

The Immortals looked up in confusion and were met with sights of soldiers. The rest of 7th Platoon had surrounded the Immortals. The once disadvantaged soldiers of light were now greeted with reinforcements. The sergeant looked around with a smile on his face.

"Oh damn, did you guys came in the right time!"

The Immortals formed themselves into a back-to-back formation. Tensed up, they braced for the incoming attack. The Immortals were expecting the soldiers of 7th Platoon to charge and slam the shield wall but however, they were too smart for such trivial tricks. Captain Arnfried reached for his pockets and threw a choke-dust bomb into the formation. The choke-dust broke the formation up and the iron soldiers charged the enemy and were cut down like they were nothing...


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The smothering villager was in despair. Although the fire was extinguish by the soldiers, the frameworks were collapsing and causing the weight that the beams were supporting to fall. The only fire that was left untouched was the camp fire, illuminating the makeshift forward communications outpost. Dark figures surrounded the lone blaze, resting on the dirt ground. The Captain sat on top of an empty overturned apple box. I got up from the ground and headed towards him then sat down next to him on a flipped barrel.

"Umm...Thanks...for rescuing me..." I muttered out. The Captain looked up from sharpening his sword and turned to me. His face was half seen by the fiery flame. But it was enough to show that he has seen more than anyone's share of battles...or deaths.

"Don't thank me. Thank Ryudel and Donnell. They're the one who found you, not me." He casually spoke out. I looked down and clutched my hands together into a ball. Relaxing, I reached into my pockets and pulled out a picture. The picture contained 6 people, all wearing leather armor and smiling. The picture condition itself was terrible. Torn, worn, and looked like it was blown up. Clenching my left fists together, I returned the picture back into the pocket. But the Captain already saw a glimpse of the photo. He stopped sharpening and sheathed his sword. Then he resumed speaking:

"That picture", he pauses for a moment for speaking once more, "was taken in the Night Stalker's capital, Tenebrae, am I right?"

My eyes were wide open in shock. One thought slammed into my brain like a bullet train, how did he know? Adjusting my foot, I swiftly shifted upwards and poised ready to draw my sword. My body cocked low and footing in position, it gave away my combat training immediately to the Team Leader. But however, he already knew by the picture.

"Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me. I'm not gonna attack you. Look, I sheathed my sword before even saying that. May I see the photo? If that's fine with you."

I wasn't sure to either stand down or readied myself. Was he luring me in for a quick kill or was it the otherwise? Either way, a sound of fighting would draw the attention of the 12 soldiers resting. Rather than to fight 13 soldiers at once, I stand down and sheathed my sword before sitting down once more. Breathing deeply, I burrowed into my pockets and pulled out the picture and then handing it to the Captain.

"Lemme guess...You were once a Stalker...am I right?"Arnfried spoke with the outmost confidence. I just slowly nodded my head. Before he was about to speak, I put up a finger, signaling him to be quiet. I knew he was going to ask for my skill level. Drawing up the menu, I tapped the CHARACTER tab. Then double tapped the upper right button which was SHARE. Arnfried received a message box:

"ARKness is inviting you to see their skill tree. Do you want to see?"

Arnfried tapped CONFIRM. I myself received a message saying, "Akagin accepts your invitation". Arnfried had a shock of amazement when the skill tree window appeared. He mouthed the word, "Wow" before going back to examine the rest of my skill. ONE-HANDED WEAPONRY was at 756, SPRINTING was at 659, BLADE THROWING was at 803, BATTLE HEALING: 612, TRACKING: 704, NIGHT VISION: MASTERED, SEARCHING: 878. These were the skills that all Stalkers were to have.

"From the picture, I can see the masks and I'm guessing the middle one is you. But if you had a group, why'd you leave? I never heard of a Stalker who left his pack."

My answer was short, blunt, and overly negative.

"Because they left me for dead."

1 YEAR 2 MONTHS AGO

The war raged on, across the land and over the seas. Shields clashed on ground as naval ships collided with each other in the seas. The war wasn't looking terrific for us, the Night Stalkers. During the first months or two of the war, we gained an upper hand. We had the first strike. But now, they struck back with no mercy. They issue morale-breaking orders which condemned the soldiers to fight to the death. The battle-shaken men who made it out alive called the attack, _vedammt krieg_.

The Shadow Council initiated Directive 71-A to combat the advancing enemy forces. Directive 71-A called for increased training of Stalker shadow soldiers, or SSS. I was one of the new recruits. I just recently brought the game and played it for the first time. My friends messaged me to join his "clan". So I did. I didn't really know much about it but I was willing to try it out. Out of the 430 new players joining the clan, only 120 was selected. But that part was all pure luck. The 120 had to go through mind-breaking, soul-bending selection process called The Selection. It broke about 85% of the contestants. Many called it quits along the Selection. But the ones who survived the deathly survival became one of the best. Only 18 remained. I was one of the 18. I was one of the Stalkers.

After 2-3 months of adopting the shadow and manipulating it for our purposes, the 18 recruits were about to see first action. We became known as Stalker Detachment Group Delta or SDG-D. For this mission, we were split into 2 groups, each having 9 Stalkers. Group A was to infiltrate Gyuki Castle and sabotage the enemy's defenses. Mainly destroying the enemy's siege weaponry and lowering the gates for our men. Group B, which I was in, was to help with their extraction. Many of us were disappointed that we didn't get to be on the battlefield since many of the men were eager for battle. But a mission was a mission, and we were too highly trained to mess up this one. But I was so damn wrong...

The night of the raid came and the Stalker Detachment Group Delta was ready. Everything was in its correct position and all teams were standing by with 100% readiness. But then the alarm rang. The whole castle was on high alert. Both groups were confused. The leader of my group sent me to scout and obtain information on the situation. I nodded and disappeared into the night. After entering the castle, I saw the movements of hundreds of soldiers, amassing into their divisions and then being sent to its designated post.

"Division Hotel, Outer North-Eastern Tower! Division Indigo, Inner South-Western Tower! Division Juliet, Outer Castle Gate! Division Kilo, Outer Wall! Same with Division Lima, Mike, November, Oscar! The rest lots of you are with me, Division Alpha, defending the inner castle! GO GO GO!"

I was amazed by the chaotic and yet elegant guard movement. However I had to go back to matters at hand. Looking for a better vantage point, I jumped off the outer castle walls and landed with a soft thud. Dirt flew up as my black leather boots touched the ground. My eyes checking left and right for soldiers, I got into a running start and started running up the inner castle walls. Before losing my speed and falling down into the ground to be surrounded by hundreds of guards, I jumped and grabbed the stone guards. But then I heard a conversation nearby. Probably from the guards stationed here...

"What's going on? Why wake us up so damn early? There's barely light outside my house window!"

Group leaders are able to send messages to their members anywhere. The AI in their house will wake them up and notify them of the message. Sure it was quite annoying when its either too early or not convenient. But most of the time, these urgent messages only came through when it's a crisis.

"My leader says that one of the spies intercepted a message saying that an attack force of approximately 300 men were to attack this castle. But seriously though, who would attack at this time of night?"

"Whatever man. If this "attack wave" doesn't come in 15 minutes, I'm logging out. One time, the spies told the assault wave that a counter attack was going to strike at the break of dawn. So the assault wave remained online the whole bloody time. And guess what? The counter attack never came! Stupid frickin' spies..."

Dammit, they fucking know that we're coming, I thought to myself, I need to report this back ASAP. Letting go off the stone guards, I landed with a thud. However, the strong winds blocked out the sound of my landing. Scanned left and right to make sure I was in the clear, I used my dashing skill to get speed before activating the jumping skill. The faster I was moving before the jump, the higher and faster the velocity I would be going. It allowed the combination of high velocity jumping and wall-running. This combo allows the player to exceed the limitation of standard wall-running. But this advanced combination isn't a skill that is given at the start. Your running skill + jumping skill needed to be quite high and wall-climbing had to be a prerequisites before learning wall-running. The combo later was changed into a single skill itself called "Wall-Dashing". However, wall-climbing and a high running and jumping skill was still a prerequisites.

As soon as I got close enough to the wall, I started my run up the wall and before I knew it, I had jumped over. But...

"Hey! I think I just saw something moving!"

"Aww, jeez. You probably been drinking again. There's nothing there."

"No seriously! Look I'll show you!"

The two guards ran down the wall and stopped right above me. I froze before taking a peek at the two guards. They both look like they've been eating quite well...

"But...but...but...but...but..."

"C'mon, you. Let's get a status healing potion for you..."

"I swore...I swore I saw..."

Smirking, I brought my left arm up to my chest. The black glove that was brought up to my face started glowing an unusual symbol. As the backside of the black glove glowed, dark mist swirls around me. Before I even had time to blink, the black cloud engulfed me...then in a second it dissipated, bringing me in front of my comrades once more. I was immediately greeted by Team Leader as soon as I got back.

"Alexei! What information did you obtained? Team A needed answers right away."

I raised my right hand index finger into the air. I pulled back my black hood and squatted down. I commenced by picking a small twig off the ground and began:

"The enemy knows that we were coming. Not us. They knew that our assault army was coming. Apparently their spies intercepted a message."

The Team Leader was astonished. His face was full of grim and anger. He spoke in a quiet and yet powerful voice:

"Impossible! The raid's details were sent over by private messages! No radio communications were used to relay the assault!"

"Then we must have a bug in our ranks. The bug must be one of the higher ups since all messages were monitored by the Marshalls of each group.

"Getting in will be even a tougher fight. They already immobilized their defenses. All divisions of the base are stationed in their proper post. What's interesting is that, the outer wall defenses are ill-defended compared to the inner wall defenses. If I recall properly, there are 7 divisions guarding the outer wall compared to the other 12 divisions guarding the inner sanctum."

The whole team was visibly shaken by the news. If they go in now, it will probably be suicide. All that guards will probably overwhelm us within minutes...but at least we'll take down some of them along the way down. Team Leader began to open his mouth but I intervened.

"I managed to get out since the guards were a bit slow to their posts. But by now, they're probably in their stations. Ready for combat."

The Team Leader stood up and contacted Team A. There were a bit of anger in the conversation but the conservation, wholesale, was quick. He approached us with a grim look on his face.

"Alright you lot listen up. Team A spotted the Army about half a klick out. We still have our mission objectives. We need to cripple their defenses so that the assault can go smoother than the last one. We go with the mission...but with a different plan.

"We will be the first one to go in. And when I mean in, I mean straight off attacking the enemy. We're going to create a diversion loud enough to allow Team A to insert and sabotage the siege equipments. From Team A's scout, they have 2 equipment with the capability to adjust aim, payload, and distance. We either cause a commotion or fight. This is stage one.

"Stage two kicks off when the trinitrotoluene, or TNT, planted by Team A detonates. We either attack if the distraction was by words or strike back even harder if the diversion contained swords. Keep fighting until I call for a regroup. We'll reorganize into a hexagonal formation. High chances are that the mob will surround us and highly outnumber us between 50 to 1.

"The last stage continues with the intervention of Team A backstabbing the enemy surrounding us. The gate will be open for the Army to come in and back us up. The last stage will be time-unknown. Meaning that the army might be late to the party and we will have to hold out as long as we can. Hopefully they get to the party before we start losing men. Are we clear on the three-stage plan?"

The team had a mix emotions of worry, doubt, and ready. We were trained for this. When shit hits the fan, we'll get the job done. The team was full of doubt in this plan but a mission is a mission. The members stood up tall, side-by-side their comrades. They rather go down fighting with their comrades than be the only survivor.

"That's what I like to see. Alright Stalkers, mask on."

The mask was only put on during battles. Night recon or scouting only required the hood to be put down. The mask was to strike fear into the enemy's heart. It hid our emotion that our faces would show. It hid our pain as we get hit. It made us into a ghost. It strikes deeper than any sword.

With the masks on, the Team Leader jumped into the air. Other Stalkers soon followed their own jumps. I was the last to follow up. The jump suspended the Stalkers high above the enemy compound.

"ALL UNITS! SPLIT UP! DIVIDE AND CONQUER! ON MY MARK, BLINK DOWN"

The black figures in the sky maneuvered away from each other. The objects then disappeared from the night sky...

...and then reappeared on the ground.

"All units! Commence assault!"


End file.
